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Media file (video)

A Media File element plays a video from disk through CutWire Prism's FFmpeg engine. It's the workhorse element for highlight reels, replays, music videos, and any pre‑recorded footage.

Add it: drag a video file onto the window, use Media → Add Files…, or Add Element → Media File….

Supported formats: MP4, AVI, MOV, MKV, WebM, FLV, M4V, MPG/MPEG — anything FFmpeg can open.

What it can do​

  • Play, pause, scrub, and seek on either deck, with a position slider and time readout.
  • Per‑deck speed set in percent (100% = normal).
  • Loop — toggle Repeat on the card to loop the clip.
  • Audio — if the file has an audio track, the card grows an audio strip and an audio port. See Audio in the node editor.
  • Trim and overlays through the Clip Editor. Cropping, flipping, and positioning are handled downstream in the node editor — see Process node and Layer node.

The card​

The card shows the thumbnail and these controls:

ControlWhat it does
RepeatToggle looping for this clip.
EditOpen the Clip Editor (below).

Sending the clip live, cropping/flipping it, and positioning it on a canvas are all done by wiring its blue output port to other nodes — see the Node editor.

The Clip Editor​

Click Edit on a media‑file card to open the Clip Editor — a tabbed dialog for shaping the clip. It edits a copy of the clip's settings and applies them when you accept.

Trim tab​

Set the in and out points so the deck only plays the part you want.

  • A playback preview with play/pause and a scrub slider.
  • A timestamp field for frame‑accurate entry.
  • Set Start and Set End buttons capture the current preview position as the in/out point.

Overlays tab​

Composite text and image overlays on top of the clip — each with its own font size, colour, opacity, and visibility. Overlays are handy for lower thirds, logos, and labels baked into the clip itself.

Need to crop, flip, or position the clip? Wire its output port into a Process node (crop/flip) and a Layer node (positioning) in the node editor.

Images use the same editor minus the Trim tab (a still has nothing to trim).